Monday, April 4, 2011

Triptych by Chinese artist Zhang Xiaogang sets record

I'm sorry to be obtuse but WHY? Or in other words, WTF?

A three-panel oil painting by artist Zhang Xiaogang has sold for 79m Hong Kong dollars (£6.3m) - a record auction price for Chinese contemporary art. The 1988 work, Forever Lasting Love, shows half-naked figures in an arid landscape surrounded by symbols, among them an emaciated ram. It was one of 105 artworks sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong by Belgian collector Baron Guy Ullens. They fetched HK$427m (£34m), more than three times than had been expected.

Forever Lasting Love broke the previous Chinese contemporary art record of HK$75m (£6m). That was set by Zeng Fanzhi's canvas Mask Series 1996 No 6, auctioned in Hong Kong in 2008.

'Entire spectrum'
Evelyn Lin, Sotheby's head of contemporary Asian art, said Forever Lasting Love was "a monumental museum-quality work from a defining period of the Chinese avant-garde".